


Disappearing Act

by WickedGood



Category: Free!
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Oneshot, Slightly OOC maybe
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-27
Updated: 2014-03-27
Packaged: 2018-01-17 06:21:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,495
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1377097
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WickedGood/pseuds/WickedGood
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rei receives an odd text message from Nagisa.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Disappearing Act

_If I were to disappear, what would you do?_

 

        Rei had received the text in the middle of doing homework, something that was to never _ever_ be interrupted, unless there was a spontaneous fire in the living room and he had to put it out because his parents weren't home. But the phone had been playing Nagisa's ring-tone, one Nagisa had recorded just for him. It wasn't anything special, just Nagisa shouting into the speaker about picking up his cell phone, but Rei couldn't help but smile, even if the shota's voice did chase away his current thought. For some reason, he didn't mind. It was probably just something about meeting up for ice cream after swim practice tomorrow, to which Rei would have to agree; he could never find it in his heart to disagree with Nagisa. Rei had been telling himself that it was because of Nagisa's puppy dog eyes, but as the two had grown closer, Rei wasn't so sure. But that was all besides the point.

 

        The text was a puzzle, as much of a mystery as Haru's fascination with water. Nagisa didn't sound like himself at all. His heartbeat quickened, thumping inside his chest painfully at the realization that something could be wrong with his friend. _Nagisa-kun, what are you talking about? Is everything okay?_

 

        Homework had been brushed aside. Rei's main focus was his cell phone. Worst case scenarios flew through his mind as the screen remained painfully dark and unblinking. No new messages. Nagisa wasn't responding. Normally a reply would be there in ten seconds flat. Nagisa often claimed that he was a fast texter, but Haru and Makoto never had gotten answers that quickly. Rei could only hope that Nagisa was focusing on something else

 

        Who was he kidding, Nagisa rarely focused. Rei sent another message, which was quickly followed by a call that went to voice mail. It had been ten minutes that felt like an eternity. If Nagisa had disappeared like he had mentioned...

 

        “I have to keep my head clear.” Rei said to himself, and proceeded to mutter several formula's underneath his breath to calm himself down. He just needed to think. Think...

 

        It wasn't a thought really, more like an impulse, something that his body had done without his head confirming the course of action. All he knew was that Rei had grabbed his phone and was sprinting out of the house, his legs demanding the destination to be the Hazuki household. No rational thought could stop him. Rei decided to just go with it, as it made sense anyway. Going to the source of the problem was the perfect way to discover the problem, assuming there was a problem. But there was definitely a problem, there was no other way around it. What could be wrong with Nagisa? Rei would be finding out, no matter what.

 

        His determination to find Nagisa should have surprised him, but it didn't. Rei didn't have much time to puzzle over this, but he had just enough to ponder on it for a second. Getting to Nagisa was a priority, yes. But why? They were friends, remarkably close for short period of time that they had started hanging out together. They were teammates, and Rei had gotten used to looking out for him, ever since the first time Nagisa had ran over to meet him on the first swim practice Rei attended and promptly slipped in a puddle and fell into the pool. Rei, of course, had yelled at him to be more careful, but Nagisa just laughed, his eyes sparkling as water droplets clung to his pretty blond hair. “Come in, Rei-chan! The water's fine!” Haru, who was already in the pool, had made a noise of agreement, but Rei's focus had been on Nagisa and his mischievous little smile, his endearing chuckle.

 

        Something warm was creeping up inside his chest as the memory arose. Rei shook it off. He had other things to worry about.

 

        In no time at all Rei had found his way to the front door. Catching his breath, he rang the doorbell, first a single time, then Rei got impatient and pressed the button several more. The door was flung open.

 

        “Nagi-!” Rei clamped his mouth shut, seeing it was just one of his sisters. Rei had been so desperate to see Nagisa he didn't even stop to check the facts. He bit his lip, trying to force the words back into his mouth. Unfortunately that was quite impossible. So Rei settled for just clearing his throat and mumbling through his embarrassed blush, “Is your brother home?”

 

        The girl was smirking a bit. Probably from his earlier outburst. “No, he grabbed his bag and said something about a pool a little while ago.”

 

        “Pool? Thanks,” Rei nodded to himself, and tried not to race away.

 

* * *

 

 

        Rei had reached the pool. He almost missed the glimmer of blonde hair sitting on a bench under a tree. Nagisa looked fine, almost bored, like he was waiting for something. As soon as he spotted Rei, Nagisa's face broke out into a grin. He leaped to his feet, waving his hands and calling out to his teammate, like it was any other normal day. “Rei-chan! Hey, Rei-chan!”

 

        Rei, of course, was still freaking out as he rushed over to him, grabbing his arms and scanning over the young boy's body for any injuries or imperfections. “Nagisa-kun! Is everything alright?!”

 

        Nagisa blinked up at him innocently. “Yes, why? Did something happen Rei-chan?”

 

        Rei spluttered in disbelief. Silently, very confused and silently fuming, he pulled out his phone, which had Nagisa's last message displayed on it. “You sent this to me.”

 

        For some reason, Nagisa started to laugh. Rei was about to start yelling at him, telling him how worried he was, how much he cared about him, what exactly was going through his mind when he had opened the message, but the words were stuck in his throat, and it was all because of that _damn_ laugh of his that made his brain momentarily shut off. “So that's what they did,” Nagisa said out loud, bringing Rei back to the present.

 

        “What? Who did?”

 

        Smiling happily, Nagisa explained, “My sisters. They took my phone, saying it was a part of their plan.” Before he could ask, Nagisa jumped ahead. “They saw that I was a bit upset, because I didn't know if you liked me the way I liked you Rei-chan. So they told me to give them my phone, and go to the pool and wait. If you showed up, then it was safe to say that you liked me back, they said.” Nagisa beamed, as if that made everything clear, not even giving Rei time to register what he was saying about liking him.

 

         “W-Well... Don't let them do that again,” Rei finally said, trying to compose himself. They were standing too close together, so close Rei almost couldn't think. Formulas and theories forced themselves into his head, but slowly, even they were consumed with the boy in front of him; One day without Nagisa would be twenty four hours. Twenty four hours without Nagisa would be 1,440 minutes. 1,440 minutes without Nagisa would be...

 

        But the fact was there wasn't a calculation in the universe to describe how he felt about Nagisa, and he was right in front of him, his cheeks slightly flushed, as if unsure what to do now. On another impulse, Rei let the words in his head fall right out of his mouth. “What would I do if you actually...?” His voice faltered, which was not in the slightest sense beautiful but he didn't think Nagisa would mind. Nagisa was beautiful enough for the both of them.

 

        Almost silently, Nagisa took his hands in his own, causing butterflies to dance around in his stomach, but in a good way, Rei thought. “So were my sisters right, Rei-chan?” Nagisa smiled knowingly, confirming his question by the blush on his teammate's cheeks.

 

        “Yeah, they were right Nagisa-kun. I like you.” Rei-chan somehow manged to say it without stammering.

 

        “Rei-chan~!” The second the sentence passed by his lips, Nagisa leaped up, wrapping his arms around his slim shoulders. Nuzzling into his neck, the little blond whispered, “I'm so happy...”

 

        Rei couldn't help but kiss him on the head softly. “Me too...”

 

        They stayed like that until Nagisa's cell phone rang, it turned out he had been in possession of it all along but was instructed not to answer it. “Hello? Oh yes, you were right again! Rei-chan is my boyfriend now~ I think I'll tell Haru-chan and Mako-chan,” Nagisa said thoughtfully into the speaker. “Gou-chan too!” he added breezily, grinning at Rei.

 

        “Ah, Nagisa-kun, we don't have to tell them yet...!” Rei said, suddenly flustered again. But Nagisa had already hung up on his sister and was dialing. And for some reason that was suddenly clear to Rei, he laughed.

 


End file.
